Lord Chang's Meditations on the Phoenix
by lithle
Summary: In which Wufei and Duo watch some buildings burn and consider what the end of the war has meant for their individual identities. Sort of. A short oneshot. 2x5.


Author's note: This takes place in the Saint Quatre continuality, a year after the first 'Lord Chang' fic. Like the other, it's a prequel, and can therefore be read outside the greater continuality. In other words, it's meant to stand alone. This began as an attempt at fluff, but failed rather miserably. I hope you all enjoy it anyway. Thanks, as always, for your continued comments and support. They mean a lot.

Pairing: 2x5

Warnings: Implied sex, nothing graphic. Some language.

The town was alive with fire. Wild orange flames dances along rooftops, embraced and engulfed the houses. The light made the night sky a distant, faded thing. The heat chased away the winter's chill, even on the overhanging clifftop where Wufei sat crosslegged while Duo let his feet dangle over the cliff's edge.

With Duo's attention completely fixed on the town it was easy to watch him. Lit only by the fires below he was otherworldly. His manic smile became a demon's malevolent grin, his eyes filled with flame. Want burned through Wufei like the smoke in his throat as Duo threw back his head and laughed at a particularly violent explosion from below.

"You miss this?" Duo asked, leaning back on his elbows. His words sounded as much like an accusation as a question. "I mean, you run around playing cops and robbers. Maybe you get to wave a gun around. But we used to do damage. We used to be gods."

The town that burned below them was empty, abandoned since the early days of the war. Its story was a common one. Not far off, a weapons research facility stood, similarly abandoned. First, weapons research. Next, contaminated groundwater. It all ended inevitably in dead plants, dead animals, and sick people. Eventually, a dead town. Now it all burned merrily beneath them, feeding on whatever accelerant Duo had soaked the buildings in before he'd dragged Wufei out into the night for a 'surprise'. Judging by the flames, violent as they were, it'd only last a few hours before for the fire devoured all possible fuel and burned itself out.

Duo, his face in shadow, was still watching him. Waiting for an answer.

"Yes." Yes, he missed it. Yes, the Preventers were a joke. Yes it was hard to go from being a god to being no one. "Sometimes, I wish the fighting had never stopped."

Maybe Duo heard hesitance in his voice, or maybe after a year (a year to the day, though neither of them mentioned it) he just knew that Wufei rarely felt anything so simply. "But?" he asked.

Wufei closed his eyes and listened to the fire roar and crackle. Such peacable distruction. Treize would disapprove. "It was fine for us. For people like Zechs," he said. "But the weak fools we fought? They had no right to make us kill them. They didn't have a chance. They shouldn't have fought. They were unworthy of the battle."

Duo picked up a rock and sent it soaring into the flames below. "What you mean is you don't like killing people."

"There was no honor in those deaths."

He thought Duo might not reply, that the roar of the flames had brought an end to the uncomfortable conversation. When Duo did speak, his bitter tone was at odds with the words he used. "We made peace. It wasn't about them, it was about what we were defending. Yeah, they didn't stand a chance. They were still a threat."

Silence. Wufei watched the fire. The air tasted like war. He remembered what it was to be powerful. Peace meant giving that up. The brilliant bits, the glory of the flames, gone. But the guilt, that lingered like smoke. Like the burnt out buildings this fire would leave behind.

"Sometimes, I think I can't die." Duo said. "That if I jumped right now, I'd just burn up and be reborn. Better maybe. Cleaner, you know?"

Duo, leaning toward the flames, glowed with their light. Wufei thought he might be right, there was something about Duo that burned as the fire did. It was an energy Wufei couldn't match. If he jumped, if he fell into the fire, there'd be no rebirth, just an end and the silencing of ghosts.

"Fuck it." Almost a snarl, almost angry and Duo grabbed him by the shoulders, fingers digging in sharp enough to bruise. The kiss tasted like smoke, like battle, like being a god again. He pushed Duo down into the dirt, wanting to steal some of that energy, that eternity. Want blazed through him, led his fingers as they tore at buttons, exposed the skin of Duo's collar bone to his teeth. Duo was hissing, grinding against him, while somewhere below something exploded in a bright hot flash that left Wufei blinking away after images of Duo haloed in light.

"You alright?" Duo had stopped moving. His grip on Wufei's wrists kept them both still.

Wufei felt hollow, burnt out and empty. He felt like pulling Duo down into the flames just to steal a second of transcendence. He said, "No. You?"

Duo's lips twisted into a feral parody of a grin as he bucked his hips upward. "Never."

Which, Wufei reflected, before Duo's questing hands stole thought, was how it should be.


End file.
